Black Mallards 



garious animals are uncomfortable, uneasy, un- 

 less they are near their own kind, near enough, 

 that is, not simply to hear or see them but to 

 feel their bodily presence. A herd-animal is always 

 restless, and often sickens, if his herd is not close 

 about him. The same mysterious sense (mysteri- 

 ous to us, because we do not yet know the organ 

 through which it works) often warns the solitary 

 man in the woods or in the darkness that some 

 living creature is near him, at a moment when his 

 eyes or ears are powerless to verify his impression. 



But that is another and more subtle matter, 

 familiar enough to a few sensitive persons and 

 natural woodsmen, but impossible of demonstra- 

 tion to others; you cannot explain color to a man 

 born blind. The simple answer is, that for my 

 own satisfaction I wanted to touch one of the 

 wary birds of my pond, as I had before touched 

 eagle and crow, bear and deer, and many another 

 wild creature in his native woods. Such was the 

 notion. In other places I had several times tried 

 to indulge it; but save in one instance, when I 

 found a winter flock weakened by hunger, I had 

 never laid my hand fairly on a black mallard 

 when he had the free use of his wits and wings. 



When I returned to my pond, and from a dis- 

 tance swept my glasses over it, the water was 

 alive with ducks ; never before had I seen so many 



19 [ 277 ] 



